Fireworks
by bored-now0809
Summary: Buffy and her friends go to a deserted beach house owned by Spike's family every 4th of July to light off fireworks. Spike comes back to find a grownup Buffy playing with sparklers. not what you expect a little angsty, but a happy ending!


AN: well here's a new one that is just an interesting experiment for me. Let me know what you think! It's just going to be a short story, no sequel or anything. My goal is to finish up writing Of Vampires and Men soon and then continue with There and Back again. I'm having a block though on OVM...so any encouragement would be greatly appreciated!

Fireworks

July 4, 2005

Buffy Summers giggled as she and her old friends began setting up all the food and fireworks they had brought down to the beach for the night. It was their last real summer of fun. Next year would be their senior year of college and they would probably have jobs and might be living that knew where. But for now, they were carefree kids with all the time in the world to have fun.

"Here you go Buffster!" Xander said as he passed Buffy some of the sparklers he got for here. She smiled brightly at him. Ever since they were little Buffy always loved sparklers. She would dance around in circles and draw pictures with the fire. Xander would always make sure to get her some when he bought the fireworks.

"Thanks Xan!" Buffy said and quickly pulled her lighter out of her pocket.

"Buffy! You have to help us set up first!" Anya whined. Not that she was doing much besides reading a magazine while Willow, and Xander were bringing food and fireworks from the van and Oz was busy lighting a bonfire on the sand. Buffy merely smiled and lit the end of the sparkler and began to dance. Anya huffed and looked down at her magazine again.

"Throw those one the fire when you're done." Oz instructed as the logs began to burn slowly. Buffy nodded and laughed.

"C'mon Willow! Xander can handle the food! Grab a sparkler!" Buffy called out as Willow paused to wipe her brow.

"Sure sure. See if I get you any prezzies next time!" Xander grumbled good-naturedly. But really, this was all part of their tradition. For the past three years they had been coming to the old Fairfax place on Sunnydale beach to have a late night BBQ and fireworks show and every year, Buffy and Willow would end up goofing off while Anya complained and he and Oz would end up doing all the work. He was actually sad this was probably the last time this was going to happen.

"Ok!" Willow called and ran to join Buffy just as she was lighting a new bunch of sparklers. As she turned towards the house, she thought that she saw a curtain move in the upstairs. "Uh Buffy?"

"Yeah?" Buffy asked her friend.

"Are you sure that no one's in the house?" Willow asked anxiously. It always made her sort of nervous to come to the beach and use the Fairfax house.

"Yeah. I mean Spike's probably still in New York." Buffy said as nonchalantly as she could, even though she still blushed when she said his name. Spike Fairfax. Their families had been friends since before she was born and she had a huge crush on him as far back as she could remember. Too bad that he was ten years older than her and had never seen her as anything but a kid.

"I saw a 'for sale' sign out front." Anya chipped in as she turned the page. Buffy looked up sharply and Willow moved closer and put a hand on Buffy's arm.

"It has been four years, Buffy." Willow said quietly. Buffy couldn't answer because her throat was choked with tears at the memories.

"I know, Will. And I don't really expect him to move back here. But…" She trailed off unable to explain her feelings.

"I understand." Willow nodded. Buffy gave her a tight smile and turned back towards her dance.

"Sparkler time." She said in a slightly subdued voice and Willow followed her lead. She only hoped that one day her friend would be able to talk to her about it.

&&&&&&&&

Spike was woken from his sleep by the sound of a car door slamming. A car door slamming in his backyard. He heard loud voices and sat upright in his bed, his heart beating a mile a minute. Then he frowned. That didn't sound like burglars. There was no cautious whispering or even the sound of someone creeping up his steps. He ran a hand over his face and went to the window.

To say he was surprised at what he saw was an understatement. There were people having some sort of party in his backyard. He frowned at them as one built a bon fire and they seemed to be unloading a ton of food. It was as though they belonged here. He let the curtain fall back as he gave a bitter laugh. The might belong here but he sure didn't.

It had been four years since he had last left Sunnydale. He had sworn that day to never come back. Not after everything that had happened. He squeezed his eyes shut tight to try to stop the memories, but it was no use. He had been working for a law firm in LA for the past year and everything had been going well for him. He was happy, his parents and older sister were alive and well. Now none of that was true. He glanced back out the window again and his hand shook in surprise when he recognized one of the girls. It was little Buffy Summers. Only she wasn't so little anymore.

Buffy had always been a sweet kid. When he still went by William and was the butt of everyone's jokes in high school, he had often gone to the Summers gallery to relax and read. He would end up playing some part in Buffy's games with her friends. Usually she would cast him as the vampire that would chase her and Willow and Xander around. He felt his mouth turn up at the memory.

He remembered her the last time he saw her. Dressed in black at the funeral of his father, mother, and sister. She had been the last person he spoke to before leaving for a new job across the country. He still couldn't believe what had happened. He knew that Drusilla had been sick. She was only two years older than him and had been in and out of institutions for years, but she was his sister and he loved her. Hell, it had been here who had convinced him to wear a leather duster and go by Spike when Cecily had rejected him.

But he hadn't known about her LSD addiction. His parents had hid that well. According to the medical examiner, Dru had used large amount of LSD and had been on bad trip when she shot both their parents and then herself. He barely remembered the following days. His next memory of that time was at the funeral. Or right after the funeral to be exact.

_Buffy had found him sitting in the graveyard that night after everyone else had gone home. She had sat beside him and said nothing. He looked at her, startled that she would come to find him. He noticed then the changes in her for the first time. She must have been sixteen or seventeen at that point but she looked like an angel. As their eyes met, Spike leaned in and kissed her briefly on the lips. When he pulled back they both had tears in their eyes. _

_"I'm leaving tonight." He told her quietly. _

_"Oh. When will you be back?" She asked looking at him full of love._

_"I'm not coming back." He answered her and looked down at the ground as her eyes filled with tears. _

_"Oh." It was all that Buffy could say. _

"Yeah." He murmured and leaned in to kiss her again. He couldn't over how much she had changed. He had left for college when she was eight and had barely been back in town since then. He had heard about what she was doing from his parents, but he couldn't reconcile the beauty who was kissing him back passionately with the child who used to make him wear a cape and fangs to chase her around the park. As their kiss began to heat up even more, he realized that he wanted to make love to her. Right there in the graveyard. Consequences be damned. Spike pulled back to look at Buffy. Her cheeks were flushed and she was panting just as hard as he was. She was still so young. And he knew that he did this, there was no way he would be able to leave Sunnydale without hating himself.

_"We need to stop." He said and she looked up at him in surprise. _

_"Why?" She asked and she shifted her body closer to his. _

_"I can't do this. Not now." He pulled away from her and stood up._

_"But." Buffy stopped and took a deep breath. "It's ok, Will. I-I can…I l-"_

_"NO." He cut her off surprised at the vehemence in his tone. "Don't say it Buffy." He practically begged her as he took a step back from her. "I can't be here! Not in this town. Not anymore. I need to go. Please." Maybe it was the desperation in his tone but all she could do was nod her head. "Thank-you." He said softly. They stared at each other then for what seemed like hours. It was like he was trying to burn her into his memory. Then, without another word, he turned and walked away. _

_He never looked back._

Spike looked down at her as she danced along the shoreline slightly apart from her friends. She was even more beautiful now then she was when she was a teenager. Before he knew what he was doing, he was leaving his old room and walking down the stairs. It was as if his feet would no longer obey his commands. Even as he told himself to stop walking, he was exiting the house through the side door. The others had started launching some of the bottle rockets they had brought with them. They were clustered together over to the side, seemingly unconcerned as Buffy moved farther and farther away, lighting a new sparkler off of the flames of the old one. He followed her.

&&&&&&&&&&&&

Buffy realized that she was getting a little far away from her friends. She always got distracted when they came up here. It was all the memories she had of playing on this stretch of the beach. Before everything happened. Suddenly she froze. She could have sworn that she saw someone moving in the dunes. Just as she was about to turn and race back towards her friends, a man began to walk towards her. He heart went to her throat. Not just any man. Spike.

He saw her tense as she spotted him watching her. He knew he would have to face her now. He walked towards her and could tell the instant she recognized him. He was surprised she had been able to what with his hair dyed blonde now.

They stood there staring at each other without saying a word. Each hoping that the other would break the silence.

"What happened to your hair?" Buffy blurted out and quickly slapped her hand over her mouth. Spike chuckled.

"Dyed it." He reached up to brush her hair back from her face and Buffy dropped all the sparklers she was holding in the sand. As Spike's hand moved to caress her cheek, her chin began to tremble.

"Is it really you?" She whispered and Spike felt his eyes fill with tears at the emotions that we flowing between them.

"It's me." He choked out and the next thing he knew Buffy was in his arms and sobbing how much she had missed him. "I'm so sorry." He told her as she stopped crying.

"Don't be sorry." She said as she pulled back and wiped her eyes. "I understand why you had to go. I did then too, even though it still hurt." She gave him a smile. "And you're back now." He looked away and the smile fell from her face. "Oh." She turned and began to walk towards her friends.

"Buffy, stop." Spike called as he grabbed her arm.

"It's alright Will. I know that it has to be hard for you to even be here." She said without turning around. She couldn't look at him anymore. After he left, she tried to convince herself that was it. She no longer loved him. But after seeing him again, she realized that she had been lying to herself all this time. She still loved him.

"It's Spike now." He said in a low voice, upset that she wouldn't even look at him. She turned back surprised.

"Huh?"

"My name. William is dead. I go by Spike now." Buffy yanked her arm out of his and glared at him.

"Spike!" She yelled. Neither noticed that the fireworks had stopped or that Buffy's friends were now observing them. Xander and Oz edging closer in case this stranger attacked her. "You name is WILLIAM!" She yelled. "And it always will be!" Spike felt his own temper flare.

"William is dead! Bloody dead! I just came here to sell this god-forsaken house and then get the hell out of here. But I saw you and…" He looked away embarrassed Buffy took a step closer to him, her anger melting away as she saw the pain that he still carried around with him.

"And what?" She asked softly.

"I just realized something. Something important." He turned his head to the side and looked at her out of the corner of his eye. And that's when she saw him. The William that she knew. The William that he had tried so hard to bury under the tough shell of a man named Spike by moving across the country and changing everything about himself. Everything except who he really was. Everything that she still saw in him even after four years.

"I love you." She blurted out. Last time he left he had stopped her from saying it and she didn't want him to leave until he knew that. He sank to the ground overwhelmed by her declaration.

"You don't know me anymore." He said in a broken voice and Buffy hurried to kneel beside him on the sand. She wrapped her arms around him as he began to cry.

"I know you." Buffy said and kissed his head. "I know that when you said good-bye before, you weren't ready to know that because of everything else. But now. Now you need to know it. Need to know that I love you no matter what you've done over the last four years. Not matter what, you're still William. And I love you." He breathed in deep and nuzzled his face in her neck.

"I came here to sell the house. I wasn't even going to come see you." He told her even though he tightened his grip on her. Buffy had to admit what he said did hurt her feelings, but the sensation of him clinging to her, begging her forgiveness…

"It's ok. I still love you." She murmured in his ear. Spike closed his eyes tightly, wanting to memorize how she sounded saying that.

"I love you too." He whispered back. He pulled back to look at her. Just as their lips met for a chaste kiss they heard a throat clear behind them.

"Uh guys?" An uncertain Xander called. Buffy and Spike turned around to see the others watching them. Willow had a huge smile on her face and Xander looked slightly embarrassed as he rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. He gestured wildly without saying anything for a few minutes before turning back to the grill.

"Fireworks?" Oz asked the pair before going over to the bottle rocket pile.

"Yeah." Spike said and stood up, helping Buffy up along the way. "It's been a long time since I watched fireworks out here." He squeezed Buffy's hand.

"Too long." She replied with a smile and he felt something in him break free as they joined the group.

"What do you say, you guys help me take down the 'for sale' sign out front after all this?" He asked as he slipped his arm around Buffy's shoulders.

"Sure." Willow agreed with a smile as lit a rocket and trotted away as the fuse sparked.

"And if you don't mind the dust, you can all stay over in the house tonight." He continued as the rocket shot up into the sky and exploded in an array of colors.

"That'd be great!" Anya said enthusiastically. "I'm Anya by the way. I'm glad that Buffy found an orgasm buddy whose house we can crash in to avoid the drive back to town." Anya said in all seriousness. Buffy blushed bright red.

"Ahn!" Xander yelled embarrassed for his friend and slightly weirded out about Buffy getting together with William after all these years.

"What?" She asked surprised.

Spike laughed as Xander tried to tell her what she said wasn't appropriate. As he looked out across the ocean as Oz lit more fireworks and could feel Buffy's warm body pressed up against his, he was glad that he had come back. After four years of hell, he was finally able to rest.

AN: Please keep reviewing! I love reading you feedback!


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